Posted by Max Bottomtime on December 13, 2002 at 15:09:06:
In Reply to: Re: "But I don't want the otters back" Seahunt posted by Steve on December 13, 2002 at 13:14:53:
There's a good reason you won't find many urchin barrens along the central coast. One only needs to look at the devastation to the kelp forests in Southern California caused by the overpopulation of urchins to realize that humans aren't the answer. Otters play an important role as apex predators just as wolves do on land. A few years ago in Colorado they rounded up as many wolves as they could and killed or translocated them. Two years later, the same ranchers that complained about the wolves were now complaining about the deer eating their grass. When man gets involved with nature, nature always loses.